Logistics Services in the 21st Century: Supply Chain Integration and Service Architecture

1. Introduction: Dynamics In The Logistics Services Industry

The logistics service industry – in charge of managing the flows of products (goods as well as services) and the related information involved in the creation, transformation and delivery of value between the point of origin to the point of consumption – receives an increasing recognition as contributor to achieve competitive advantages in today’s business environment. Whenever companies decide to extend, to reduce, to outsource or to integrate their operations, also logistics operations are affected. Each type of decision mentioned changes the structure of an internal value chain and/or external supply chain and consequently also the requirements on the logistics services which are responsible for the effective and efficient management of flows within chains.

Nowadays statements can increasingly be found which stress that modern competition is being fought chain versus chain rather than company versus company, and that these chains need to provide competitive total value across a balanced set of cost, quality, speed, responsiveness and also environmental as well as social aspects (Loren 2005, Ketchen & Hult 2007, Heizer & Render 2008) – these two latter aspects influence the logistics service industry at large.

In this chapter we will provide insights into options for the logistics service industry to fulfill their role within today’s supply chains and to improve supply chain performance by focusing on the architecture of the services, the service programs and the organizational forms of logistics service providers.